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Philippine population hits nearly 101 million in 2015

Among the 33 highly urbanized cities, Quezon City had the highest population with 2.94 million people in 2015, followed by Manila with 1.78 million, Davao City with 1.63 million, and Caloocan City with 1.58 million

CEBU CITY, Philippines – The Philippines added 8.6 million people from 2010 to 2015, bringing the country’s total population as of August 1, 2015 to 100,981,585, according to the latest data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

Notably, 56.9% of the country’s total population reside in Luzon, followed by Mindanao (23.9%), and Visayas (19.2%), based on the results of the 2015 Census of Population, the 14th census since 1903.

The result of the 2015 Census of Population was presented by the PSA during a forum in Cebu City on November 14. A copy of the presentation was sent to Rappler on Thursday, November 16.

The PSA said the 2015 census involved 90,000 enumerators, 23,000 team supervisors, and 5,000 census area supervisors. It lasted for 25 days from August 10 to September 6, 2015. For large provinces and some highly urbanized cities, the enumeration was extended until September 15, 2016.

The increase in population during the 5-year period translated into an average population growth rate of 1.7% annually, which means there were about 17 persons added per year for every 1,000 persons in the population.

Of the total population in 2015, 50.6% was male while 49.4% was female. This has resulted in a sex ratio of 102 males for every 100 females. The same sex ratio was reported in 2010.

The National Capital Region (NCR) and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) were the only regions that reported more females than males.

Among the 18 administrative regions in the country, Region IV-A (CALABARZON) had the biggest population size in 2015 with 14,414,774 persons, accounting for 14.3 percent of the country’s total.

The Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) had the least population by region with 1,722,006 persons, accounting for a mere 1.7% of the total population of the country.

Twenty-seven out of 81 provinces reached a population of more than one million in 2015, with 14 of these 27 provinces based in Luzon, 6 in the Visayas, and 7 in Mindanao. The top 5 most populous provinces in the Philippines were Cavite (3.68 million), Bulacan (3.29 million), Laguna (3.04 million), Pangasinan (2.96 million), and Cebu (2.94 million, excluding its 3 highly urbanized cities).

Among the 33 highly urbanized cities, Quezon City had the highest population with 2.94 million people in 2015, followed by Manila with 1.78 million, Davao City with 1.63 million, and Caloocan City with 1.58 million.

The city of San Juan had the least population, among the highly urbanized cities, with 122,200 people, followed by Olongapo City with 233,000, and Tacloban City with 242,100 people.

The 2015 Census of Population also found that the median age of the country’s total population was 24.3 years, which means that half of the total population was below 24.3 years old. Median age was highest in the NCR (26.2 years) and lowest in ARMM (18.3 years).

Of the total population, 63.4% belonged to the working-age population (15 to 64 years). Children below 15 years of age comprised 31.8% while older persons, those 65 years and above, accounted for 4.7%.

At the national level, the voting-age population reached 62,615,419, accounting for 62% of the total population in 2015. The 5 regions with the highest proportion of voting-age population are NCR, Region III, Region IV-A, Region I, and Region VI.

The number of households in the Philippines also increased by 13.9% in the 2010-2015 period to 22,975,630, with the average household size in 2015 lower than the average household size in 2010 at 4.4 persons.

Of the household population 15 years old and over, 3.2% or 2,196,423 persons were overseas workers. Overseas workers aged 45 years and over made up the largest age group, comprising 22.1% of the total overseas workers.

The census also discovered that simple literacy rate in the country was at 98.3% among the 78,918,842 people aged 10 years and over. This is higher than the 97.1% literacy rate that was recorded in 2010.

The 2015 Census of Population was mandated by Republic Act 10625, or the Philippine Statistical Act of 2013, which requires the PSA to conduct national censuses and surveys, and Executive Order 352, which mandates the conduct of a mid-decade census. – Rappler.com

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Welcome to Rappler, a social news network where stories inspire community engagement and digitally fuelled actions for social change. Rappler comes from the root words "rap" (to discuss) + "ripple" (to make waves).